


A Dulcet Diversion

by SonjaJade



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-27
Updated: 2017-03-27
Packaged: 2018-10-11 18:34:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10471401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonjaJade/pseuds/SonjaJade
Summary: It didn’t hit him how much his new talent had affected his life until he and his family were in Central.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Creating things with his hands, after his alchemy is gone
> 
> *insert string of curses here* I had a power surge and lost the original of this and almost didn’t retype it. The original was probably much better. Unbeta’d.

Pinako had won the damn thing in a poker game, sometime after Ed, Al, and Winry arrived in Rush Valley the first time.  It sat covered in a light film of dust and forgotten in a part of the cellar that no one really went to.  But the day Ed found it, he thought it might be a good way to pass the time and keep him entertained as he watched over Al out in the yard, and he took the mandolin up to the porch and began to clean it up.

Pinako told him who had previously owned it, and Ed paid a visit to the farmer and asked if he could show him how to tune it at least, maybe how to play a little.  The middle aged man did more than that.  He drew up a chord chart, wrote out a few easy songs to start with, and said he was glad someone decided to play it instead of just let it sit unloved in a cellar.

The first few weeks were harsh for everyone’s ears.  Ed was left handed now, and he had to learn to play a right handed instrument backwards.  On top of that, his right hand wasn’t very strong yet, and keeping his fingers down hard enough to make the proper sounds was difficult at first.  But eventually, sour notes began to turn sweet, choppy rhythm began to turn smooth, and his quiet singing voice began to grow louder- and deeper (no thanks to the booze Granny had decided he was old enough to drink or the pipe she felt he was old enough to smoke on occasion).

When the weather was nice, the four of them would sit on the porch and Ed would make beautiful music with his fingers and voice.  Sometimes the others would sing along, sometimes they would tap their toes or clap in time…  And the better Ed got, the more he wanted to play.  He bought a guitar at a pawn shop on the way to Creta and learned to play that while out on the road.  By the time he returned and married Winry, he was as proficient at the guitar as he was at the mandolin.  While she carried their first child, he taught himself harmonica.  After James was born, he decided to try cello and began learning to read sheet music.

But it didn’t hit him how much his new talent had affected his life until he and his family were in Central one summer on vacation.  His little girl held his hand as they strolled down the street and pulled him to a stop.

“Daddy!” she said in an awed voice.  “I wanna learn to play that!”  Her tiny finger was pointing at a cherry colored violin with a walnut inlaid fingerboard.  It was half the size of a normal violin; just the right size for Sara’s little hands.

The young man that Ed had been just after the Promised Day always assumed that he would teach his children alchemy…  But neither of his kids had much interest in it, despite Al’s children showing off their abilities whenever they came to visit.  Ed smiled at his daughter.  She wanted to learn music, just like James had taken up his old mandolin.

“Are you sure?  You’ll have to practice lots and lots to get good at it,” Ed gently warned.

“If James can do it, then so can I,” she said, her golden eyes sparkling with determination.  He’d seen that look on his wife’s face and knew Sara meant business.

“Let’s go see if they’ll let you try it out,” he said as he held the shop door open for her.


End file.
